After the announcement of the currency demonetization, people started considering Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the avant-garde of our society. Some said his decision was bold and gutsy; others termed it as a ‘surgical strike’ on black money, while there are many who are criticizing this move till date. As most of us know that this idea was suggested by Pune resident Anil Bokil and his think tank ArthaKranti Pratishthan, but now when the financial situation of the country is all messed up, Bokil blames the government for using his advice “selectively”.

He told the Mirror that “The proposal I placed before the PM was a comprehensive one and had five aspects. However, the government chose to use only two of them.” Calling this a sudden move and something that wasn’t well-thought-out, he further added “The move cannot be welcomed or rejected. We are compelled to accept it. The road map we gave the government would not have caused such pain.” Woah, don’t take any responsibility for your ideas and put the blame on someone else, how original! Amidst, this blame game, it’s the country that has been forced to stand outside the banks and ATMs for long hours and sometimes only to witness the machines running out of cash.

1: Complete abolition of taxes, direct and indirect by the Central or State governments and also the local bodies.

2: The taxes were to be replaced with Bank Transaction Tax (BTT), wherein every inward bank transaction would attract a levy (say about two per cent). It would be a single point tax deducted at source. - The deducted amount would go into the government kitties at various levels (Centre, State and Local, broken up in perhaps a ratio of 0.7 per cent, 0.6 per cent and 0.35 per cent, respectively). The concerned bank will also get a share of say another 0.35 per cent. Of course, the BTT rate would be decided by the finance ministry and Reserve Bank of India.

3: Cash transactions (withdrawals) would not attract tax.

4: All high denomination currency (anything above Rs 50) should be withdrawn.

5: Government should create legal provision to restrict cash transactions to Rs 2,000.

Bokil feels, “If all these were done together, it would have not only benefitted the common man but also changed the system completely.”

Bokil and his team had been working on this proposal for the past 16 years, since ArthaKranti’s formation in 2000. Bokil was so sure about this proposal, made by a 16-member technical committee, that he guaranteed that not a single person would be affected. He further added, this move was targeted to eradicate black money, terrorism and ransom-linked crimes. It would also have affected property prices and impacted the GDP.

As the Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes are now discontinued and not valid, people are getting accustomed to using Rs. 2000 notes. But, now Bokil and his team are planning to propose the withdrawal of Rs. 2000 notes the government has introduced. He said that it was just a diversion and the main operation is yet to happen. What? Are you serious, what are we supposed to do? Go back to the barter system?